Part of the Music Library. Reply
Albums: The Grateful Dead (Warner 1967) Anthem Of The Sun (Warner 1968) Aoxomoxoa (Warner 1969) Live/Dead (Warner 1969) Workingman's Dead (Warner 1970) American Beauty (Warner 1971) Grateful Dead (commonly called Skull And Roses) (Warner 1971) Europe 72 (Warner 1972) History Of The Grateful Dead Volume 1: Bear's Choice (Warner 1972) Wake Of The Flood (Grateful Dead Records/Arista 1973) From The Mars Hotel (Grateful Dead/Arista 1974) BluesForAllah (Grateful Dead/Arista 1975) Steal Your Face (Grateful Dead/Arista 1976) Terrapin Station (Arista 1977) Shakedown Street (Arista 1978) Go To Heaven (Arista 1980) Reckoning (Arista 1981) Dead Set (Arista 1971) In The Dark (Arista 1986) Built To Last (Arista 1989) Without A Net (Arista 1990) Infrared Roses (Arista 1990) Reply
They arn't the best at what they do, They're the only ones who do what they do— Bill Graham Reply
Founded in 1965, The Grateful Dead quickly developed a devoted following in the San Fransisco Bay Area. Previously to being The Grateful Dead, the band went by the name The Warlocks, but got beat to vinel by another band of the same name.
They cut their furst album in 1967 The Grateful Dead
, it has a very bluesy sound to it, and is a good representation of what the band sounded like in those early days. However, what makes the Dead so special doesn't come through on the first album.
The band's second album Anthem Of The Sun
, however, shines through with the radical musical exparmentation, and overly creative edge that have set the Dead apart from most other bands. Reply
The Dead's studio albums are exellent to listen to, but do not represent the pure essence of the band, on stage, they had a collective mind, they could communicate with eachother and with the audiance, seamlessly shifting from one song to another, and almost never playing a song the same way twice, of course, each version of a song shares the common theme, lyrics, and core. That is what's wrong
with the studio albums, they are only the bare bones of each song, a 2D rendering, if you will, of a complex 3D object. Reply
Some spectacular jams that shine brightly on record, and must have been simply awesome to listen to live include The Other One from June 28th 1971, which it is captured on the Skull and Roses album, and Dark Star from Febuary 27th 1969, which appears on Live Dead. Reply
Both of these songs have the same basic format, two short verses with instrumental sections in between (and usualy preceding the first verse as well). However, not only are the two songs very different, any two versions of these songs will be significantly different, yet the same common themes will be heard throughout. Reply
One can only guess at how well the band's members must have listened to eachother on stage to be able to pull off anything like that, clear evidence of this can be heard on tapes from the late 70s, 1978 in perticular, The reason you hear it, is because the band stopped listening quite so hard, the least dynamic member of the group at that time was Keith Godchaux, the keyboardist, On many jams, such as Fire On The Mountain of May 8th 1977, the keyboard seems locked into one pattern, and the band manages to play arouns Keith, but their ability to corner was comprimised. Reply
If you want a good clear snapshot of the Dead at they're peak, I highly reccomend the Skull and Roses album. If you prefer structured, more traditional songs, I reccomend American Beauty, which is probably the only studio album who's songs, (execpt Truckin' and Sugar Magnolia), all sound better then they're live counterparts. Reply
Email me (neal-m at shawdotca) if you want to hear some of these songs, I can send them to ya —Neal Reply
Okay, I'm not going to review all those albums (And those are just the official releases not including the Dicks Picks or Vault discs). Instead I'll review my five favorite albums. Reply
Neal: I would be interested to hear more about what you think of the Grateful Dead as a band. What did they do? Why are they so unique? —Marina Reply
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